Talking Politics

Tuesdays at 4:45 p.m.

Last week, it was hard to miss the huge news coming out of Columbia. Former University of Missouri defensive lineman Michael Sam came out to ESPN last week. He could be the first openly gay NFL player after the draft in May. "I'm not afraid to tell the world who I am. I'm Michael Sam: I'm a college graduate. I'm African American, and I'm gay," Sam said. "I'm comfortable in my skin." In the past week, as policy makers try to ride the wave of Michael Sam’s hype, there has been a ripple of...

Republican leaders in the Missouri House have scrapped the budget being proposed by Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat. Instead they will use last year's budget bills as a starting point for crafting their fiscal year 2015 spending plan. House Budget Chair Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood, says their budget bills contain none of the governor's spending proposals for the fiscal year (FY2015) that begins July 1. "In the past, usually we've used the governor's recommendations," Stream told reporters Thursday in...

Missouri Governor Jay Nixons State of the State Address Republican Response by Speaker of the House Tim Jones A discussion on St. Louis on the Air about Missouri Governor Nixons State of the State address and the Republican Response by Speaker of the House Tim Jones. Guests on the show were political reporter Jo Mannies, statehouse reporter Marshall Griffin and University of Missouri-St. Louis Curators Teaching Professor of Political Science David Robertson. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is...

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon will deliver his annual State of the State address Tuesday night, during which he'll unveil his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2015. The governor is expected to announce funding increases for both K-12 schools and higher education, along with a warning to House and Senate GOP leaders not to cut taxes. Nixon vetoed last year's tax cut bill (HB 253) and successfully fought off an attempted veto override last fall. The Democratic governor is also expected to make another...

The first full week of the Missouri’s General Assembly is officially underway, and already the focus has shifted away from the expected topics – tax cuts and Medicaid expansion – and landed smack dab in the midst of a potentially bruising battle over labor rights. The fight offers the potential of overshadowing other legislative issues for weeks, if not months. Both sides admit that there are key reasons why “right to work’’ – which centers on who must pay union dues – has come up so quickly....

Missouri’s two U.S. senators – Republican Roy Blunt and Democrat Claire McCaskill – are highlighting their differences when it comes to extending unemployment benefits to millions of out-of-work Americans. On Wednesday, the two held dueling tele-conferences with reporters in which Blunt make clear his opposition and McCaskill underscored her support. The Senate voted this week to restore the extension, which ended Dec. 28 for about 1.3 million Americans. Without an extension, almost 5 million...

As the Missouri General Assembly prepares to open on Wednesday for its five-month session, those involved – in and out of the state Capitol – say the big unknown about this year’s proceedings centers on one major question: Will the session be about the past – the continued debates over Medicaid expansion and tax cuts? Or will it be controlled by new matters – notably, the unrest over student transfers from failed districts and the looming 2014 elections? Publicly, Republican legislative...

Missouri lawmakers plan to make another attempt at cutting income taxes during their 2014 session. Democratic Governor Jay Nixon vetoed an income tax cut bill passed earlier this year, and majority party Republicans were unable to override it. House and Senate leaders say an income tax cut will be an early priority when lawmakers convene January 8th. Representative T.J. Berry, who sponsored the vetoed bill, says next year's version will leave out some of the provisions to which Nixon objected...

Republican legislators in Missouri will try again next year to restore caps on damages awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits. In 2005 lawmakers passed legislation signed by former Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican, that capped non-economic damages at $350,000, but that cap was ruled unconstitutional in 2012 by the Missouri Supreme Court. State Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, has pre-filed a bill to restore the $350,000 cap. In a written statement, Burlison says his bill would satisfy the...

Thousands of conservatives attended CPAC St. Louis on Saturday to listen to more than 40 conservative leaders and rising stars. There were a number of last-minute speaking cancellations for the conference. Members of the US House had to stay in DC to work on a fix to avoid a partial government shutdown. Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri also cancelled , saying he was working on a deal even though the Senate wasnt in session. That decision drew the ire of many conservatives. Out of the...

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt was in Missouri on Thursday to promote legislation that would reduce the number of so-called "boutique" fuels.

Under the Clean Air Act, different cities use different blends of fuel. Blunt's bill reduces the number of boutique fuels and broadens the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to give a waiver to a city to use whichever fuel they want in times of supply disruption.

At gas station in Cape Girardeau, the Republican Senator says before...

While Governor Jay Nixon (D) continues touring Missouri to oppose efforts to override his veto of tax cut legislation, a group of business officials and political activists are trying to rally support for the override effort. The group calls itself the Grow Missouri Coalition. It includes the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Missouri Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity and United for Missouri. Dan Mehan , President and CEO of the Missouri Chamber, told reporters in...

The Democratic Party of Missouri has a new chairman. On Saturday the stateparty committee picked long-time political strategist Roy Temple to replace Jackson County ExecutiveMike Sanders, who is stepping down after less than two years and says he may be interested in running for attorney general in 2016. Even though Democrats have fared well as of late in state-wide elections, Republicans hold supermajorities in both the state House and Senate. Though he won’t say what districts he believes...

Several new Missouri laws regarding traffic and roadways are going into effect soon. KSMU’s Jennifer Davidson has more. Captain Tim Hull with the Missouri State Highway Patrol just completed his annual training on the new laws. Each year, the patrol briefs its troopers on new laws, or changes to existing laws – and it’s also trying to educate the public about them. Hull says one law increases the penalty for a violation or traffic offense within an “active emergency zone.” (HB 103). An active...

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's record number of vetoes this year is expected to set up a very busy and hard-fought veto session this September. According to the Associated Press, the Democratic Governor struck down 29 of the 145 non-budgetary bills sent to him by the Republican-dominated House and Senate. Dave Robertson is a political science professor at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. "They're going tohave to hold together, because even though they have a 2/3rds majority, not...

This week on the show: what information does the government have about you… and how is it using it? Plus, hundreds of MU faculty members finally get a vote. In the ongoing saga over the state providing federal investigators with a list of all the concealed carry permit holders in the state, the fallout continues. Republican Senator Kurt Schaefer of Columbia says Missouri’s Division of Motor Vehicles will remain unfunded in proposals for next year’s state budget unless the Nixon Administration...

On this week’s Talking Politics, we hear from Columbia’s Mayoral candidates. We’re just two weeks away from the Municipal election on April 2 nd . Republican Mayor Bob McDavid is running for re-election, and is being challenged by Sid Sullivan.

This week: why Boone County leaders are asking for a 3/8 cent sales tax in April. Plus, economists and business owners in Mid-Missouri react to President Barack Obama’s goal of increasing the national minimum wage to 9 dollars an hour.

Democratic Missouri Governor Jay Nixon delivered his state of the state speech Monday night; to a legislature that this year again has enough Republican members that if they all vote together, they won’t even need his signature to alter the state’s laws.

At the first major league baseball game I ever saw, as a Cub Scout in old Sportsmans Park in north St. Louis, Stan Musial got his 2500 th hit, a home run. I became a Cardinals fan and a Stan Musial fan that day.

This week on the show – New enforcement creates questions about whether organic certification is worth it for farmers. Plus, details about the likelihood of Missouri becoming a right to work state, and a report from Jefferson City about the possibility of Missouri switching to performance based funding for higher education.

This week on Talking Politics: the latest on Jo Ann Emerson’s retirement and the rush to find a replacement in the US House. Plus, the so-called fiscal cliff, and what it would mean for the University of Missouri system.

The current human rights act in Missouri says, to discriminate against any person because of “race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, disability, or familial status” is illegal, but it doesn’t cover gender identity and sexual orientation. It’s not just in Missouri, right now 29 states have no protections for sexual orientation and 34 have no discrimination protections for transgender individuals. Aaron Malin is the co-founder of Missourians for Equality, an organization that is attempting to take the issue of employment and housing discrimination of LGBT members to a ballot in 2014. The proposal would be an amendment to the current legal definition of discrimination in Missouri.

Hello and welcome to Talking Politics, I’m Ryan Famuliner. Less than a week, folks. That’s all the time you have to make sure you’re prepared for election day. KBIA’s been conducting in-depth interviews with political candidates for regional and statewide office in our studios, and we’re airing portions of those in these few days left leading up the election. We’re also posting the full length-interviews here on KBIA.org: we’re calling them “candidate conversations.” We don’t want to make you...

This week on Talking Politics, Columbia College political scientist Terry Smith makes his predictions for November 6 th . Plus, our “candidate conversation,” Democratic Lt. Governor candidate Susan Montee. We hear again from Columbia College political scientist Terry Smith, who is a regular contributor to the show. In this commentary, he has his predictions for November 6 th . Here at KBIA, we’ve contacted the candidates in all of those state and local races Terry mentioned; to book them for...

All eyes were on Columbia as the candidates for Governor and the US Senate squared off in the first debate of this election cycle on Friday. This week on the show we have more in-depth reporting on what happened at the debates.